Hatton Garden - Wedding ring workshop - review

So, to Hatton Garden on Saturday, a glorious time getting our rings ordered, in blistering heat(!) - we had a couple of places to check out after our research, but took a little time to nose around the area (-SO- different from the diamond district in New York) -

- we checked out the "wedding ring workshop" on the off-chance (after we trawled a few of the high-street style stores, watching (and wincing at) the nasty hard-sell taking place to the wide-eyed innocent couples, who were regrettably taken in by the practised "Well, you gonna be 'ere all day going round shops ain't ya? You gotta start somewhere, so you might as well (let us fleece you as you don't know anything about what you are buying? Right?)"...and in they walked, smiling to each other... :(

Sadly, when we got there, the Wedding ring workshop was even *worse*, well, either that, or just *hugely* overpriced - the *actual* cost price of the materials involved, and average workshop price (for a handmade ring) basically put them at a rather ludicrous 200% over what you would normally pay (and they even take the mickey making you think you are being sneaky for cutting out the middleman) so in this case, by going direct, they send you away smiling and winding up making a *massive* loss...not exactly very clever (imho)...but is of course tempered by the fact that if plenty of cash is in the way, and just *needs* spending, then perhaps one would have a fairly good time although from what we saw it would be a rather crowded affair (it's a very small place)...

Sometimes I think anyone involved in the wedding business is a bit of a hungry hyena, the guy we met in the Wedding ring workshop couldn't even meet my eyes while he was stating the cost of various diamonds - tellingly, despite our initial honest declarations - his final price was *three times* the price we had last been quoted for *exactly* the same materials (and the same "hand-made" service, same certificate diamond and only about 4 doors down...is this just not conning those without the time to check out the options (or taking advantage of those with more money than (urm)?)...to pay the guy to make the ring was £450 (no diamond, a simple 3mm circle of gold, just to bend around a bit of gold into a ring) - is there anyone out there that will go for that? I don't need you to answer the question, there were 6 couples in there when we walked though the door, so obviously lots *were*...they will do them for you for that price...but the scary thing is to pay to make TWO tiny gold rings *yourself* - minimum £770 - and YOU ARE DOING THE WORK...massive price hike and no professional hands? ;)

I mean, you expect weddings to be expensive, but this seems to be a bit of a rip off...If you care about using money in a worthwhile fashion (as I do), do as I do and don't bother...this is throwing it away - if you doubt me - it's not too tough to check actual gold and diamond prices and find a proven craftsman...

So, off we went, as we initially intended (although we did voluntarily put ourselves through the hard sell, nonsense, and nasty smell of the middle man) - we had already seen the quality of the workmanship and loved the "down to earth" nature of the team involved at the tiny workshop we had found before coming into town - and wonderfully they were super happy to take us around the place and show us exactly how everything was to be done (and let me shoot) -

- from the wax templates -

- to the brass and glass samples -

- unfortunately the rest of the shots, and details will have to remain secret for now though...it's the rules (apparently)... ;)